Brad Pitt Gives $100,000 to Fight Gay Marriage Ban

The same week he and Angelina Jolie pledged $2 million to help fight tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, Brad Pitt has given $100,000 to stop a California ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage – the largest donation so far from a prominent individual in the entertainment industry, reports Variety.

"Because no one has the right to deny another their life even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," Pitt, who gave to the group Californians Against Eliminating Basic Rights, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the organization ProtectMarriage, which supports passage of Proposition 8, said of Pitt, "We certainly respect his right in the political process, but we don’t believe he is the most exemplary figure on the issue of marriage."

Bi-Partisan Issue

"It is our hope that others in the entertainment industry will step up and match Brad Pitt's heroic commitment to equality and to defeating Prop. 8," said political strategist Chad Griffin, who is aiming to defeat the measure, which is due on the Nov. 4.

Two years ago, Pitt said about his own much-speculated-upon relationship with Jolie, "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."